Entrepreneurial Small Business Book Summary

Student’s Name

Name of Institution

Supervisor Name

Date of Submission

Chapter 1

The book has five parts, each part with different chapters. The first chapter discusses the ideas of entrepreneurs and the basis of small businesses. It also focusses on the varieties of small businesses and their impacts. The chapter begins with Robin, who states that his inspiration to be an entrepreneur started in the early stages. Robin had four key ideas when starting a business, which can be echoed into the lives of future entrepreneurs. The four ideas include; believing that one can make it as an entrepreneur. There is a need for entrepreneurs to believe in self-efficacy to get started as an entrepreneur. These people who are likely to succeed are those who believe in themselves. The other key idea was planning and executing an action. This idea explains that planning something and failing to accomplish it null and void the plan. The other idea is helping. This idea describes that successful entrepreneurs are those who help. The last idea was doing the job well and thus suitable. It is essential to do good when carrying out a business as it creates good partnerships all-around at long last.

This chapter also summarizes the entrepreneurial process. The process follows the feel, check, plan and do step. In the feeling stage, the entrepreneur feels like starting a business. The next step in the checking stage involves looking at the success rate of the suggested idea. The next step, which is planning, involves the creation of a business plan. The last step of doing involves the implementation of the plan in action. In the United states, around 15.5 million people own a business. This is according to U.S Census Bureau. According to the U.S Census Bureau, entrepreneurs are in occupations such as owner-manages, construction, farmers, retailers, drivers, child care workers, real estate agents, wholesalers, maintenance workers, maintenance workers, lawyers, farmers and ranchers, medical practitioners, movie projectionists, artists, entertainers and athletes, salespeople, landscape managers, photographers, service managers and furniture finishers among others. In short, entrepreneurs are everywhere. Some entrepreneurs require training, and others only require primary entries. According to a small entrepreneurial business, an entrepreneur is anyone who owns a business. This can also be self-employed people.

Entrepreneurship involves the concept of founding, where people start a business, whether for profit or not. There are three significant forms of entrepreneurship known as CIS entrepreneurship. Independent entrepreneurship is the starting of the business of self-employed people. Social entrepreneurship is the start of civic or charitable organizations. This includes organizations such as Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank, which helps the poor have financial literacy and help them manage their money well. Sustainable entrepreneurship, also known as green entrepreneurship, occurs when social entrepreneurship is focused on ecological and planet concerns. Corporate entrepreneurship occurs when people employed in companies are innovative, and the company can use their ideas to expand the business or solve problems.

The other concept discussed in the chapter is the differences between small businesses and high-growth ventures. Small businesses vary from small to moderate in the growth and innovation rate; with small businesses, the owner intends to remain small for easier control while a high growth business grows big as intended by the owner. Also, the small business owners do not intend to employ other people or add locations, unlike the high-growth ventures.

The chapter has also discussed the concepts of the myths and misconceptions associated with small businesses. Often people believe that there are inadequate funds to start a business. This is contrary to most business owners who report that finding the funds to start a business is not a significant issue. The other myth is that one has to make something such as goods. This is contrary to the fact that the majority of the businesses are based on the sale of services. Also, there is the myth of not trying again once the business has fallen. This is contrary to the experiences of many entrepreneurs who have failed several times in their journey but have not given up. Also, a particular group such as the students or mothers who cannot start a business. This is a myth as most people in this group have started businesses. The other myth is that majority of the business fail after two years.

Action keys to becoming a business owner is another principle described in this chapter. To get started with businesses, one needs the BRIE model. It encompasses boundaries, resources, intentions, and exchange. The boundary component entails the creation of a suitable location or place for the business. The resource component involves the money, knowledge, and product used to create the business. The Intention component is the desire or the motivation behind the start of the business. The exchange component is the moving of goods or services in exchange for currency. There is also a checklist of the BRIE model that an entrepreneur should check before strategic a business. The model is easy and helps entrepreneurs to implement their actions.

The other concept in chapter one entails the different ways in which small businesses help the economy and the community. Small businesses generate income used as revenues for any country. Also, they help in the creation of sources of innovation for communities. It is also a source of employment for people. There is also some prince of the critical entrepreneurial way strategies. These are seven components: persevere, scale back, a bird in the hand, pivot, take it on the road, ask for help, and plan to earn.

Chapter 2

The second chapter discusses the characteristics and competencies of small business entrepreneurs. The chapter has several concepts. It discusses the key aspects of an entrepreneurial personality. There are five entrepreneur behaviors as described by 5Ps. These include passion, where one is an intense feeling towards the business. The other ‘P’ is perseverance, where one should not give up on the business no matter how hard its gates. The third 'P; is the promotion-prevention focus. The promotion focus aims to attain the highest possible profits, while the prevention focus aims to avoid losses. The planning style involves five planning styles. These include entrepreneurs who are comprehensive planners, critical point planers, opportunistic planners, reactive planners, and habit-based planners. Professionalization is the last ‘P’ of behavior for entrepreneurs. This involves doing better than just the average.

The other concept in this chapter is the operational competencies of the successful entrepreneur. The operational competencies are discussed in the Boundary-resources-intention-exchange model, introduced in the first chapter. Boundary competencies, also known as the fundamental business competencies, include operations, sales, human resources, finance, and accounting. The resource competencies entail the entrepreneur knowing a suitable place to find raw materials and people such as advisors, customers, suppliers, and service providers. The intention competencies, also known as the determination competencies, entail doing what it takes for the business's success. The exchange competencies or the opportunity competencies involve using the opportunity to gain a profit.

The other concept discussed in the chapter is the sociology of entrepreneurship. This takes a look at the position of women and minorities in entrepreneurship. Industries with more women than average include health care and social assistance services, educational services, administrative, personal services, retail trade, arts, entertainment, and recreation services. Entrepreneurial industries with fewer women than average include professional, scientific, technical, food and accommodation, finance and accounting, and construction. In the United States, there is a significant growth in the number of women and minorities in entrepreneurship. However, these group faces the challenge of access where there is discrimination of accessing opportunities offered by white men. These opportunities include financial assistance. This group imposes higher loans interest rates compared to the white male. To solve this challenge, there is a need to set aside dedicated contracting funds for these groups.

Furthermore, there is a need to ensure certification for everyone. Another approach in solving these issues is personal. This entails these groups effortlessly making networks.

The other groups are the veteran or the second-hand entrepreneurs. These people start a business either after retirement, retrenchment, or downsized. The major challenge facing this group in entrepreneurship is a lack of financial literacy. They use everything, including their money, too soon and try to do everything by themselves. This can be challenging as it can waste time and feelings f loss of confidence once there is a failure. To solve these challenges, veteran or second career entrepreneurs should only use their money when there is a feasible business plan. Also, these people can take time to heal to regain their confidence.

The other concept discussed in this chapter is the recognition of entrepreneurial teams. These teams include couples and non-couple teams. The most common form of teams is the couple teams. These teams should use financial flexibility and trust to succeed as entrepreneurs. The major challenge facing these teams is family issues when the couples reflect their family issues to business, separation, lack of agreements before the start of the business, and wrong handling of business endings. The same problems are likely to be experienced by non-couple teams.

The chapter has also discussed family business owners. These people face significant challenges are the lack of time management, role conflict, and succession issues. Role conflict occurs when the family member is expected to accomplish house roles and work roles simultaneously. The role-play conflict results in challenges of time management. However, the challenges can be solved by proper planning of the business. Divorce and separation may also jeopardize how a business is running. Proper planning entails listing, prioritizing, and delegating roles from time to time.

The other concept is the entrepreneurial cycle. The usual sequence for most businesses is emergence, then existence, then survival, then success, and lastly, resource maturity. The emergence stage is when a person thinks and executes a plan. The existence stage is when the business is at play and operation. This stage can be risky as many entrepreneurs lack the knowledge to maintain the business in marketing, production, and management. When the business has established its market, it moves to the success stage. The last stage is resource maturity, where there is a scaled level of success in the business's profits. Challenges characterize each stage, and the entrepreneur should seek advice from other people or strategize to move to the ultimate goal of resource maturity.

The last concept or principle described in chapter 2 is the rewards for entrepreneurs through their businesses. Most people start their business to grow, being flexible and generating income. These are the universally mentioned awards. Some occasional rewards of starting a business are wealth and product. In wealth, the entrepreneur has a chance of generating wealth and more income than expected. In the product reward, an entrepreneur can have their product developed. The rarely mentioned awards that are also social include admiration that is to earn respect from friends have power where they can lead and motivate others, be recognized as one who has achieved something and show family tradition.

Chapter 3

In chapter three, the discussed areas are: Environment of a small business and its elements, ability to scan the small business environment, techniques of building legitimacy for your organization, techniques of social networking, essential skills for handling a crisis, recognize how small businesses can achieve sustainability and identification of the significant steps in making ethical decisions in small business.

.